Electric-circuit breaker.



Nu. 645,0l0. Patented Mar. 6, lSBfll). L. 6. RED ELECTRIC CIRCUIT BREAKER.

(Application filed Aug. 5, 1899.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT ()EEIcE.

LYMAN O. REED, OF NElV ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

ELECTRIC-CIRCUIT BREAKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 645,010, dated March 6, 1900.

Application filed August 5, 1899. Serial No. 726,294. (No model.)

To (1, whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LYMAN O, REED, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electric-Circuit Breakers, of which the followingis a specification.

lllyinveniion relates to automatic elect-riccircuit breakers, the same being particularly designed for use in connection with the systems of distribution set forth in my applications for patents, serially numbered 7 245,066, 72%,067, and 724,068, filed July 17, 1899. In these applications I have shown and described a circuit-breaker located in the service-circuit of a low-tension distribution system, which comprises a switch, alever carrying the movable parts of the switch, a solenoid-transformer, a movable core therefor operatively connected with the lever, and a fuse supporting said movable core and holding the switch in its closed position, the primary of said solenoid-transformer being in a normallygrounded circuit leading from one of the legs of the service-circuit and the secondary of said solenoid-transformer being in a normally-closed circuit including said fuse. The act-ion of the device when actuated by a direct current is to break the supporting-fuse mechanically by drawing down the core of the solenoid-transformer and when actuated by alternating current to induce a current of low potential and high amperage in the closed secondary of the solenoid-transformer, blow the supporting-fuse electrically, and thus open the switch.

My present improvements have to do particularly with the constructionjof the solenoidtransformer and its core and the relations between said core and the switch-lever. Instead of using a movable core which is directly connected to the switch-lever a stationary core is employed and an iron weight is attached to one end of the switch-lever which is supported by a fuse, the said weight serving as a counterbalance and as the armature for the magnet which is produced by the core upon the passage of a direct current through the primary of the solenoid-transformer.

The details of the invention will be more fully set forth. in the following description,

and that which I consider new and patentable will be defined in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of myimproved circuit-breaker; and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken through the upper end of the casing, showing the operative parts in plan.

Like reference-.nu morals indicate like parts in both views.

The inclosing box or casing 1, the bed-plate 2, of insulating material, the mercury-cups 3 4 5 6 7 8, the bridging contaot-strips 9, 10, and 11, the insulating-bar 12, and the lever 13, of conducting material, attached to the rear end of the bar 12, may all be of the same form and construction as the corresponding parts shown. in my former applications referred to. The lever 13 is fulcrumed upon supports 14, of conducting material, secured to the bed-plate 2, and the rear end of the lever'is formed with an elongated slot 15, as clearly shown. The iron weight 16 has a stem 17 thereon, through a slot in which passes the rear end of the lever 13, operative connection between said stem and said lever being obtained by means of the pin 18, extending transversely through said stem and through the slot 15. The said weight 16 and lever 13 are maintained'in raised position, closing the switch formed by the mercury-cups and contact-pieces referred to by means of a fuse 19, secured to the stem 17 at one end and at taohed to the overhanging arm 20 of a bracket 21 at the other end. The said bracket is also made of electric conducting material. In connection with these partsI employ what I term a solenoid transformer, which, as stated in the former applications referred to, is a device comprising two coils located in indu'ctive relation to each other adapted to operate as an ordinary solenoid with a direct current and as a transformer with an alternating current. The solenoid-transformer, as herein shown, is made up of an inner layer 22 of'insulating material, a secondary coil 23, a layer 2a of insulating material, a primary coil 25, and an inclosing iron shell-26. The upper and lower ends of the shell 26 outside the layer 22 of insulating material are provided with annular disks 27 of insulating material, and outside the disks 27 are iron disks 28 28, by means of which the parts are bound together. Between the disks 28 2S and inside the insulation 22 is a stationary iron core 29, held in place with the other parts by means of a binding-rod 30, the disk 31 on the upper end thereof, and the nut 32 upon the lower end thereof. The service-wires 3e 35 lead in through the bottom of the casing 1 to the mercury-cups 3 5 7, respectively, and the wires 36 37 38 lead through the bottom of the casing from the cups at 6 8, respectively, to the lights or other devices that are to receive the current. Connection is made between the leading-in and leading-out wires by way of the contact-strips 9 10 11 and the mercury-cups with which they respectively cooperate. The primary coil 25 is connected to ground by a wire 30, leading through the bottom of the casing, and is connected to the mercury-cup 6 through a wire 40. It will thus be seen that the neutral service-wire 3st 37 is grounded on the house side of the instrument through the primary coil 25 of the solenoidtransformer. The secondary 23 of the solenoid-transformer is in a normally-closed circuit including the wire 41, leading from one end of said coil to the bracket 21, and a wire 42, leading from the other end of said coil to the support 14, the circuit being completed by way of the lever 13, the stem 17, and fuse 19 to bracket 21.

The ope-ration of the device is as follows: If the distributingmains from which the house circuit wires, above described, lead become charged with a high-tension direct current, the solenoid-transformer acts as an ordinary electromagnet, the passage of the current to ground through the primary 25 thereof energizing the same and causing it to exert its magnetic influence upon the weight 16, which at this time serves as the armature of the magnet. The magnetic force exerted is sufficient to draw down the armature 16 and break the supporting-fuse 19 mechanically, thus depressing the rear end' of the lever 13, elevating the opposite end thereof, which car.- ries the contact-strips 9 1O 11, and breaking the circuit to the house from the wires 33 34E 35. The action under these circumstances makes no use of the closed secondary 23 in the opening of the switch, and the fuse 19 becomes a mere mechanical support for the weight 16, which the magnetic pull breaks. If the high-tension current be alternating, the closed secondary 23 is brought into play. The passage of the alternating current through the primary 25 induces a current of great amperage and small voltage in the closed secondary 23, which operates without any arcing to melt the fuse 19, thereby freeing the weight 16 and opening the switch. Any untransformed energy in the primary will enable the same to act with magnetic force upon the armature 16 after the fuse 19 has been broken. Furthermore, the fuse 19 melts and the secondary circuit is open before the contact-strips 9, 10, and 11 leave the fuse 19, and thereby electrically as well as mechanically sever the support of the Weighted armature 16.

Itwill be noted that my instrument has been shown and described in connection with a three-wire system of distribution. It is obvious, however, as shown in application Serial No. 724,067, above referred to, that it may also be used in connection with a twowire system of distribution, the only change necessary being to remove one pair of mercury-cups and one contact-piece on the bar 12, which cooperates therewith.

The instrument described is adapted to all the uses for which the instruments disclosed in the former applications referred to are intended, and, in fact, may be employed as a substitute therefor.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an automatic electric-circuit breaker, a switch, a service-circuit through said switch, a solenoid transformer, a stationary core therefor, an armature for said core operatively connected to said switch, a grounded circuit through the primary of said solenoidtransformer, and connections between said grounded circuit and the service circuit through said switch.

2. In an automatic electric-circuit breaker, a switch, a service-ci3cuit through said switch, a solenoid transformer, a stationary core therefor, an armature operatively connected to said switch, a fuse connected to said armature for normally holding said switch closed, and a grounded circuit through the primary of said solenoid-transformer connected with the service-circuit through said switch.

3. In an automatic electric-circuit breaker, a switch a seryice-circuit through said switch, a solenoid transformer, a stationary core therefor, a weighted armature operatively connected to said switch, a fuse supporting said armature in raised position for normally holding said switch closed, and a grounded circuit through the primary of said solenoidtransformer connected with the service circuit through said switch.

1. In an automatic electric-circuit breaker, a switch,a service-circuit through said switch, a solenoid transformer, a stationary core therefor,an armature connected to said switch, af use for normally holding said switch closed, a grounded circuit through the primary of said solenoid-transformer,connected with the service-circuit through said switch and a closed circuitincluding said fuse and the secondary of said solenoidtransformer.

5. In an automatic electric-circuit breaker,

a switch, a servicecircuit through said switch, a solenoid-transformer, a core therefor, an iron weight serving as an armature operatively connected to said switch, and a supporting-fuse for said armature normally holding said switch in its closed position,the said solenoid-transformer comprising a primary coil in a grounded circuit and connected with the service-circuit through said switch, and a secondary coil of acomparatively-small number of turns in inductive relation with said primary coil, the circuit through said secondary being closed through said supporting-fuse whereby with a high-tension direct current, the primary coil alone acts magnetically through said core to exert a pull on said armature and break said fuse mechanically opening the switch by combined magnetic and gravity action, and whereby with a high-tension alternating current both primary and secondary coils act together to produce a transformer inducing a current of large volume and small voltage in the secondary coil by which said fuse is melted without arcing and permitting gravity to open said switch by the weight of said armature, to which force is added simultaneously the magnetic pull exerted by the untransformed energy flowing through the primary coil.

6. In an automatic electriccircuit breaker, a switch, a service-circuit through said switch, a solenoid-transformer, a stationary core therefor, an armature operatively connected to said switch, a fuse for normally holding said switch closed, a grounded circuit through the primary of said solenoid-transformer connected with the neutral wire of the servicecircuit through said switch, and a closed circuit including said fuse and the secondary of said solenoid-transformer.

7. In an automatic electric-circuit breaker, the combination with a box or casing and a base-plate of insulating material therein, of contacts arranged in pairs on said base-plate, conducting strips or bridges for the members of each pair of contacts, an insulated bar secured to said strips, a lever secured to said bar, a solenoid-transformer, a stationary core therefor, an iron weight serving as an armature connected to said lever, a support, a fuse secured to said support and to said armature for supporting the latter and normally holding said strips or bridges in engagement with said contacts, a service-circuit leading to one side of said contacts and from the other, a grounded circuit leading from the neutral wire on the other side of said contacts through the primary coil of the solenoidtransformer, and a circuit through the secondary coil of said solenoid-transformer normally closed through and by said fuse.

' In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LYMAN O. REED.

Witnesses:

HENRY MiiLLER, ALEXANDER H. MGCOMISKEY. 

